A study was undertaken in Ireland to test the hypothesis that teachers' judgments of reading were a function not only of a child's actual reading ability but also of his or her socioeconomic status. The sample consisted of 28 primary school teachers and their 804 students. The teachers administered a reading test to their classes and at the same…

Approximately 4,000 children took part in a study of the reading attainments of children from different social-class backgrounds in Irish primary schools to find out if the progessive reading gap between children from different home backgrounds that has been observed in other countries could also be found in Irish school children. Tests were…

This paper discusses the question of whether, in a multilingual society, the child's first or second language is best as a language of instruction in primary school. Reviewing eight case studies from seven countries in which initial primary schooling was given either in the second or first language, the discussion compares achievement in reading…